arco polego off of southeast india. the comment by the president of the maldiz as this report from deutsche welle especially telling, as his country so may go the rest of the world. >> reporter: is an island in the north malaye group. it's home to about 2,000 people. for generations they have lived from the sea but now the sea itself is threatening their livelihood. the land here has been vanishing here for years. and the rate of erosion is increasing. this year some 15% of the land mass have been lost to the rising sea level. people are worried. not long ago, they could look out to the sea, but now the waves are gna wing the beach away >> translator: just two weeks ago you could sit out here comfortably and look out to the ocean in evening. now just look the beach's already disappeared. the water is getting higher and higher and the tides are getting stronger. >> reporter: just a few days ago the water inundated the streets. the water all but destroyed this small harbor here. >> translator: we got the land years ago an